Apple Has A Calendar And Photos Spam Problem

First of all mister, Apple will tell you whether it has a problem or not, not the other way around. For all we know this is a feature, not a flaw. Apple would never make something that offers a less-than-magical experience. Maybe you are just holding it wrong?

I got a lot of replies. It turns out I'm not alone in getting what I've come to know as notification spam. Apparently, it's possible for spammers to email a calendar invite and something (I'm still not completely sure of the mechanism) then puts that invite into the MacOS calendar. According to some of my correspondents, the same thing happens with iOS. I don't use the iOS calendar, either, so I didn't see it in iOS.

advertising in this country is out of hand. FFS the gastation near me just installed new gas pumps that have a display on them to show commercials while filling up. I feel like there are groups of people that sit around and think of moments in our daily lives where we are NOT looking at a commercial and then figure out how to get one in front of us. 95% of mail gets thrown away, half my phone calls are solicitors, we wont even talk about spam mail, 1/3 of most websites are filled with ads, some so intrusive you can't even navigate the webpage (especially mobile, how far that has fallen lately). Now billboards around me are so bright they outshine headlights in the night so you can see them way down the free way. Look up in the sky? Well there is a blimp with an ad screen on it or a plane with a banner ad.

screw advertisements, I am tired of everywhere I look I see an ad. This has to change

95% of mail gets thrown away, half my phone calls are solicitors, we wont even talk about spam mail, 1/3 of most websites are filled with ads, some so intrusive you can't even navigate the webpage (especially mobile, how far that has fallen lately).

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99% of the email we get at the office is spam, viruses or phishing attempts.
I have multiple levels of filters to catch as much as possible, but I still get several a week.
I've hit the point where I've started blocking entire domains if I see them sending us spam.

No problem with any spam here. Could it be that you're just dumb and register to places using your own e-mail AND use facabook and twitter?

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Ahh, yes. The "I don't have this problem, so it must not exist, and therefore you are stupid" defense.

Google automatically puts things in the calendar. Microsoft automatically puts things in the calendar. None of those have spam issues. So it appears Apple's mechanism for scraping emails for calendar data is flawed at the moment.

At least this is finally getting some exposure. Happened to my parents a few weeks ago. I had them disable the icloud calendar and problem was solved but it's a big gaping hole in the Apple calendar to allow such a thing to happen to begin with. Apple will naturally deny anything is wrong and quietly issue a patch for it.

You can also go into iCloud and change calendar invites to be delivered via email. Easier to block that way.

Ahh, yes. The "I don't have this problem, so it must not exist, and therefore you are stupid" defense.

Google automatically puts things in the calendar. Microsoft automatically puts things in the calendar. None of those have spam issues. So it appears Apple's mechanism for scraping emails for calendar data is flawed at the moment.

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Well quite obviously you're doing SOMETHING wrong to get spammed like that.

My sister got hit with this over thanksgiving. I worked for apple for a year and I couldn't find an obvious way to stop the calendar spam, ended up finding the answer on reddit on how to stop the invites from automatically showing up. It's pretty messed up. You have to get off your iphone and onto a computer and go to icloud.com and change the settings on the calendar to send invites to your email and not the app so the spam filter will filter them. That's a pretty messed up solution, you can't actually fix it on the device that has the problem.

Been getting these for the past several weeks and I though it was because i had my ipad jailbroken. Got rid of it going to icloud.com on my desktop and disabling in app notifications in the calendar app.

My sister got hit with this over thanksgiving. I worked for apple for a year and I couldn't find an obvious way to stop the calendar spam, ended up finding the answer on reddit on how to stop the invites from automatically showing up. It's pretty messed up. You have to get off your iphone and onto a computer and go to icloud.com and change the settings on the calendar to send invites to your email and not the app so the spam filter will filter them. That's a pretty messed up solution, you can't actually fix it on the device that has the problem.

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Even worse, the default, and unchangeable, behavior is to send a notice back when you decline/delete the event, unless you move it to a new calendar and then delete the calendar. Only then do you get an option to delete/decline the event without sending a response.

Well quite obviously you're doing SOMETHING wrong to get spammed like that.

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Using an apple product? All someone needs is your email, with the all the companies out there losing personal info, this person could very well have done nothing wrong at all. Apple should have some mechanism to filter spam.

Using an apple product? All someone needs is your email, with the all the companies out there losing personal info, this person could very well have done nothing wrong at all. Apple should have some mechanism to filter spam.

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You probably use your real e-mail to register to all sorts of places. Perhaps you even share it on social media. So you get spam as a result.

Lesson of the story: Unless it's a paid subscription or a government official - use fake name and junk e-mail. In other cases always use junk email where ever you register. If you use hotmail or the likes for registering to services you will never get a single invitation to your calendar.

You probably use your real e-mail to register to all sorts of places. Perhaps you even share it on social media. So you get spam as a result.

Lesson of the story: Unless it's a paid subscription or a government official - use fake name and junk e-mail. In other cases always use junk email where ever you register. If you use hotmail or the likes for registering to services you will never get a single invitation to your calendar.

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Sorry, nobody wants to live in your world where you think this is a good idea. Let's see... google filters spam just fine, they seem to think your idea isn't proper way to do things and they filter spam. I know apple wouldn't agree with you either, they just don't have a way to mitigate this. Guess what you solution still sucks, you pay for icloud for extra storage, have to use a good email. oh man someone gets that email somehow (maybe they look over you shoulder and see your email and sign you up for spam because they know you give crap solutions like the one you just gave), boom you are getting spam now... Sucks for you now you have to abandon that icloud account. Oh wait... maybe apple should just get a spam filter for calendar invites like the rest of the world...

Sorry, nobody wants to live in your world where you think this is a good idea. Let's see... google filters spam just fine, they seem to think your idea isn't proper way to do things and they filter spam. I know apple wouldn't agree with you either, they just don't have a way to mitigate this. Guess what you solution still sucks, you pay for icloud for extra storage, have to use a good email. oh man someone gets that email somehow (maybe they look over you shoulder and see your email and sign you up for spam because they know you give crap solutions like the one you just gave), boom you are getting spam now... Sucks for you now you have to abandon that icloud account. Oh wait... maybe apple should just get a spam filter for calendar invites like the rest of the world...

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ROFL you're so out there that it's amazing. Pay for iCloud? LOL! Only a moron gives their real e-mail to anything but business contacts and perhaps a selected few friends. Everything else goes under 'junk mail' e-mail address for obvious reasons.

ROFL you're so out there that it's amazing. Pay for iCloud? LOL! Only a moron gives their real e-mail to anything but business contacts and perhaps a selected few friends. Everything else goes under 'junk mail' e-mail address for obvious reasons.

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I've had my work-iPhone for a year now, same with my work email address.

I still receive random spam calendar invites on it. The only people who have my work email is internally.

advertising in this country is out of hand. FFS the gastation near me just installed new gas pumps that have a display on them to show commercials while filling up. I feel like there are groups of people that sit around and think of moments in our daily lives where we are NOT looking at a commercial and then figure out how to get one in front of us. 95% of mail gets thrown away, half my phone calls are solicitors, we wont even talk about spam mail, 1/3 of most websites are filled with ads, some so intrusive you can't even navigate the webpage (especially mobile, how far that has fallen lately). Now billboards around me are so bright they outshine headlights in the night so you can see them way down the free way. Look up in the sky? Well there is a blimp with an ad screen on it or a plane with a banner ad.

screw advertisements, I am tired of everywhere I look I see an ad. This has to change

/endrant

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So what you're saying is you want to suppress peoples 1A rights to free speech? Because that's what you're wanting to do.

This is fucking sarcasm people...but it is the argument that is used. That's why we are one of the very few countries in the world where drug companies are allowed to advertise...because if they couldn't, it would be a suppression of their 1A rights.

So what you're saying is you want to suppress peoples 1A rights to free speech? Because that's what you're wanting to do.

This is fucking sarcasm people...but it is the argument that is used. That's why we are one of the very few countries in the world where drug companies are allowed to advertise...because if they couldn't, it would be a suppression of their 1A rights.

I agree. It does need to go away (or curtail quite a bit) but it has to come from consumers not being affected by it (which I feel will happen once it gets even worse, eventually you won't even remember what you saw) and sales not increasing based on advertising. But it certainly cannot come forcibly from the government, that would be a slope sliding right into a pit of spikes.

ROFL you're so out there that it's amazing. Pay for iCloud? LOL! Only a moron gives their real e-mail to anything but business contacts and perhaps a selected few friends. Everything else goes under 'junk mail' e-mail address for obvious reasons.

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You have no idea what happens in reality. Your posts are so out of touch on how peoples information actually gets taken and how they use their devices. I worked for apple, there are lots of people that pay for extra icloud storage. First you say only use a non junk email for government and pay services, then it changes to be only business contacts and select friends (all of which are likely to get your email address taken from). You can't even keep it straight. I worked tech support for a company of about 200 people, people did all sorts of crap to get their business computers compromised and they started sending spam to all their contacts. There goes your advice down the gutter again because you would be in their contacts. Or how about your stupid friend that likes to click on what ever on the internet?

Sorry, but you are wrong on all accounts. You're a person that says you don't need airbags and seat belts if you drive at 3 am and only on side streets, sure it will work, but its bad advice. The real solution is to tell the POS car company to put some protection in their car. It sounds silly when you equate it to a car, but you are making the same argument. Protection should be built into the system especially when competitors have it already, if you have to go out of your way to be protected you are doing it wrong.

You have no idea what happens in reality. Your posts are so out of touch on how peoples information actually gets taken and how they use their devices. I worked for apple, there are lots of people that pay for extra icloud storage. First you say only use a non junk email for government and pay services, then it changes to be only business contacts and select friends (all of which are likely to get your email address taken from). You can't even keep it straight. I worked tech support for a company of about 200 people, people did all sorts of crap to get their business computers compromised and they started sending spam to all their contacts. There goes your advice down the gutter again because you would be in their contacts. Or how about your stupid friend that likes to click on what ever on the internet?

Sorry, but you are wrong on all accounts. You're a person that says you don't need airbags and seat belts if you drive at 3 am and only on side streets, sure it will work, but its bad advice. The real solution is to tell the POS car company to put some protection in their car. It sounds silly when you equate it to a car, but you are making the same argument. Protection should be built into the system especially when competitors have it already, if you have to go out of your way to be protected you are doing it wrong.

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Learn to read. I said use a fake name and fake email to all but government or pay credentials. Perhaps IT security sucks in your country because I haven't had any spam from my business contacts

You're the one getting spam messages, not me. So I'm fairly confident you're the one doing things wrong to state the obvious.

Learn to read. I said use a fake name and fake email to all but government or pay credentials. Perhaps IT security sucks in your country because I haven't had any spam from my business contacts

You're the one getting spam messages, not me. So I'm fairly confident you're the one doing things wrong to state the obvious.

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I never said I got spam, guess you need to learn to read. I'm fairly confident I'm doing things right as I don't have to resort to your bad advice to not get spam. You can continue on in your tin foil hat world, I'll stay in mine.

I never said I got spam, guess you need to learn to read. I'm fairly confident I'm doing things right as I don't have to resort to your bad advice to not get spam. You can continue on in your tin foil hat world, I'll stay in mine.